


an interesting variation of the little mermaid

by tvheads



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, F/M, an unfortunately violent meet cute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:34:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24299692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvheads/pseuds/tvheads
Summary: oh dear please don’t look too closely at this. trying desperately to get back into writing while also having numerous mental hang-ups about it.please enjoy
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Bernadetta von Varley, Dimtri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Bernadetta von Varley
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> oh dear please don’t look too closely at this. trying desperately to get back into writing while also having numerous mental hang-ups about it.  
> please enjoy

They were a little too close to the surface for Bernadetta’s liking, but the other girls had assured her that they were plenty badass enough to fight off any disruptive humans. And Yuri had always encouraged her to try new things! She’s sure he’d be proud of her for swimming so high. But…

Maybe it’s everything that her father drilled into her, but she can’t help but feel ill at ease here, so close to the air. She wishes that wasn’t the case—after all, the ocean’s surface was where humans could be found. Air and humans were both supposed to be bad, and dangerous, and  _ deadly _ . And yet humanity was so… fascinating.

“Hey, Bern, you okay?” Dorothea’s melodic voice ripples through the water, taking Bernadetta about as close to her reality as she could be. “You’re staring off into the blue, again.”

“Oh, um, sorry!” Bernadetta stammers, releasing her hold on Edelgard’s arm to hide her face behind her hands.

The princess next to her gives a slight chuckle. “It’s alright, Bernadetta. We’re not upset at you for drifting off. Just make sure you won’t do it literally, okay?” She offers Bernie her pale arm once more.

“Oh, I’m s—” A pointed stare cuts her off. “Right, uh, but… I’m supposed to be looking out for you, right?” 

“We are friends!” Petra declares, loud but warm. “We are all looking out for each other.”

“Exactly,” says Edelgard. “I don’t mind carrying you along if you’d like me to.”

Bernie makes her choice. “Er, thank you, my lady, but I’ll swim on my own. And I won’t drift off!”

“You can do it, Bern!” Dorothea cheers.

“I can!” she says, in a way that was meant to be a lot less shaky than it came out as. But the girls around her don’t seem to mind, and Bernie works hard to keep up with the rest of the conversation.


	2. Chapter 2

He knows that Ingrid is trying to discuss everything they know right now, but Dimitri is really having a lot of trouble with just staying awake. He’s not entirely sure what Felix is doing next to him, but judging by the dirty looks Ingrid keeps giving them…

“Are you even listening?” she cries, exasperated, throwing her arms out.

“Yes,” Dimitri says at the same time as Felix says, “No.”

“Ugh.” Ingrid pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs, and then inserts herself right between them on the wooden bench. “Felix. At least tell me you checked their tools.”

This wakes Dimitri up, as this is the first he’d heard of any tool-checking, and he gives both his friends a wide-eyed, almost hurt stare. He  _ likes _ tools!

“You’d probably just break them, boar,” Felix mutters and reaches over to poke Dimitri’s side. Before Ingrid can reprimand him, though, his hand retracts into his lap and he gives her a report. “Most of their tools are obviously for whaling, but they hid this one thing I’ve—it was weird and I have… it’s not for whaling.”

“You don’t know what it is?” Ingrid says, incredulous. 

Dimitri ponders this. This is a whaling ship, crewed by whalers. That’s what it’s supposed to be. However, the four young nobles disguised as sailors aboard her was hardly the strangest thing about her—the crew and officers seemed very disproportionately successful when compared to the whales they’ve caught. It’s notable enough that the four of them decided it was worth investigating. 

Speak of the devil. All three of them look to their fourth, Sylvain, who leans into the cabin doorway, disgruntled and out of breath. Ingrid stands up, and Dimitri opens his mouth, but Sylvain shakes his red hair out of his eyes and raises a hand to quiet them.

“I really do not think that these people are whalers, guys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not good at writing dima.. i still love him though


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ones got good dialogue, trust me

Dorothea’s in the middle of a story concerning Edelgard’s vassel Hubert and several fruits when suddenly a green-haired young merman swims in out of nowhere.

Petra catches him with ease, and they lock eyes in confusion. He backs up nervously and then sees Edelgard. His eyes widen behind his glasses. Bernadetta curls behind Dorothea, who gently takes and squeezes her hand.

“I—um—you’re Princess Edelgard, of the A-Adrestian Empire… oh Goddess, we—you have to go,” the merman manages to say after much difficulty. “There are—hunters.”

That’s when Bernie realizes she can smell blood, and while the other girls start to exchange loaded looks, she chooses to tightly hug Dorothea, whose attention quickly turns to her.

“Aw, hey, Bern,” the songstress murmurs gently, carding a hand through the mess of purple hair. “It’ll be alright. We can take care of ourselves, yeah? Besides,” Dorothea says, carefully removing Bernadetta’s hands around her waist, “you know you’re better than this. We won’t leave you behind. Don’t worry.

“But we need to help them.” Dorothea raises her voice to look over at the merman. “You have a school, don’t you?”

He’s fluttering about, maybe even more nervous than Bernadetta. (Unlikely, she thinks to herself.) “Yes, but—you guys shouldn’t—they have harpoons.”

Edelgard glowers. “Then why are you fleeing like a coward when they clearly need help?”

“I—Help. Yes. I’m faster and smaller than a lot of them… I’m looking for help.”

“Why do you not ask for our help, then?” Petra asks.

“Because!” the merman cries. “You have—Princess Edelgard! We’re from the Alliance, we can’t just—ask Princess Edelgard for help with hunters!” He laughs humorlessly, disbelievingly.

“Then we will not wait for you to ask,” Edelgard declares. “We’re going to help your school. I will not let innocents die.”

Dorothea makes a proud fist, and Petra points her knife towards the surface. “We will fight!” she promises. 

Bernie is much less confident.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was all meant to be a lot more romantic than it turned out.. oh well. (“this” being the whole dang fic, not just this chapter)

There was a man in the water. He’s large and blond and altogether looks very upset. He’s caught in a net, and splattered with blood that catches the sun oddly if you look at it from a certain angle… then Dimitri realizes that something was sparkling  _ through _ all the blood and that that something was a golden fish tail.

The deck is full of busy crewmen shouting to one another, and even though Dimitri knows he ought to pay more attention to what they were saying, he can’t take his eyes off the fish tail and—the merman. 

A female voice yowls above the chaos and Dimitri stands and watches as a small mermaid emerges from the waves, blood bubbling from where a thrown spear impaled her tail. She reaches a webbed hand to the man in the net, crying and sobbing to him as he thrashes. Then an orange flash cuts across, slicing the net. The merman falls to the water, and both he and the wounded mermaid disappear.

There’s a lot of swearing from the men swarming around him, and Dimitri lets the crowds carry him along and order him around as he comes to the realization that this ship is hunting not whales, but mermaids. Mermaids that could cry and scream for their fellows. He does not like this.


End file.
